Chromeo feat. Solange Knowles - When the Night Falls

Chromeo feat. Solange Knowles - When the Night Falls
The big problem with Chromeo's records is that Dave 1, their singer, is singing them. "When the Night Falls" is exuberant mid-'80s synth-pop: P-Thugg builds an enticing bed of tugging rhythm guitar and keyboards bright as brand new plastic, with Solange Knowles on the hook acquitting herself quite wonderfully in the role of whichever Pointer Sister was your favorite. Then Dave 1 comes in, and while he's obviously game, his singing flits between endearingly dorky and uncomfortably preening. P-Thugg and Solange should try collaborating without him.

The Hercules and Love Affair remix's conga-laced house groove amps its videogame sonics, though not cartoonishly, and focuses on the most wistfully sung of Dave 1's lines, "There's something about you girl / And it's rather strange / I want to come back to you, girl / And we can build a flame." Breakbot's mix essentially amplifies the original, stretching it over a Casablanca Records-era disco groove, complete with an ascending ARP synth on the verses. Lifelike's remix does something similar, only way more up to date and not nearly as good. The closing cover, by Mayer Hawthorne, is small-group yacht-rock: charming, though it confirms that the song's not the thing in Chromeo's original—the track is.